The 40th match of the 2020 Indian Premier League is between two sides who are currently struggling – Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rajasthan Royals. SRH have lost 3 in a row and are currently in 7th while RR are also struggling in 6th place. Let’s preview this match from a betting perspective, with odds provided by LeoVegas India.
Our Top Betting Picks:
Sunrisers Hyderabad are two-time winners of the IPL, first in 2009 under the name of Deccan Chargers, and then in 2016 under the able leadership of current captain David Warner. Rajasthan Royals won the first ever IPL title back in 2008, but have consistently struggled ever since. These two teams have faced each other 12 times in the IPL, with SRH winning 6 of those, and RR also winning 6. RR beat them comfortably in their match earlier this season.
SRH lost both their opening 2 matches, and were rock bottom of the table before their clash with Delhi Capitals. However, they regrouped and beat the table toppers with an impressive bowling performance, led by Rashid Khan and Bhuvaneshwar Kumar. They followed that up with another impressive victory of Chennai Super Kings, but faltered against Mumbai Indians. After that they scored 200+ against KXIP for a huge win, before throwing away the game from a winning position against RR. They then lost to a resurgent CSK side by 20 runs, and followed it up with a 3rd consecutive defeat against KKR, clearly suffering from the absence of Bhuvaneshwar Kumar.
Rajasthan Royals started IPL 2020 with a bang, winning their first 2 matches in dramatic fashion, scoring over 400 runs in the process. Their top order has been fairly consistent while Jofra Archer has been absolutely brilliant with the bat as well as ball. The return of Ben Stokes will make them an even more formidable unit. They had lost 4 matches in a row, but came back brilliantly against SRH to move up to 6th in the table. However, another damaging defeat to table-toppers DC put them back in 7th place. RCB beat them convincingly recently, however they came back strongly against CSK to move up to 6th in the table.
RR are the favourites to win the match with odds of 1.84 as per LeoVegas, which is not surprising considering they won their last match very convincingly. SRH have been struggling considerably, in comparison, and have lost 3 matches in a row. They are 1.96 to win this match.
SRH captain David Warner is unsurprisingly the favourite to be their top batsman in this match with odds of 3.00. His opening partner Johnny Bairstow has odds of 3.50, while the dependable Kane Williamson has odds of 5.00. The consistent Manish Pandey has odds of 4.50, which is an attractive bet.
Jos Buttler is still the favourite to be their top batsman in this match with odds of 3.75. He was their top scorer as they succumbed to a disappointing defeat to MI. His opening partner Sanju Samson has odds of 4.50, while the dependable Steve Smith also has odds of 4.50. The return of Ben Stokes has made him the second-favourite at 4.00, as per LeoVegas
SRH are favourites at 1.75 to have the highest opening partnership in this match, as they are widely considered to have the best opening pair in the tournament, in Warner and Bairstow. An explosive start could be a game-changer in this match, and these two have given SRH plenty of brilliant starts this season.
Rashid Khan is unsurprisingly SRH’s favourite to be the top team bowler at 2.62, followed by Natarajan at 5.00 and Khaleel at 4.50.
On the other hand, Jofra Archer is the favourite to be the top bowler from RR at 3.00, followed by all-rounder Tom Curran at 4.33 and leggie Shreyas Gopal at 4.50.
Odds of there being more than 327.5 runs in this match are 1.71, as per LeoVegas. This seems highly achievable as both these teams have some brilliant batsmen and are known for posting huge totals.
Our Dream XI team for this match is top-heavy with 2 wicket-keepers, 4 batsmen, 2 all-rounders and 3 bowlers.
Jos Buttler is the favourite to be the top RR batsman at 3.75, and hence we have included him over ABD. If he returns to his best, he will be the game-changer and hence we have captained him. Similarly, Sanju Samson can win a match on his own, and we expect him to bounce back in this match.
From RR our 3rd batting pick is the ever dependable skipper Steve Smith. Then, from SRH we have included David Warner, as he is a premium batsman and the favourite to be the top scorer for SRH. We then have the 3rd favourite from SRH as well, Manish Pandey.
From SRH we have picked Vijay Shankar, described as a “360 player” for his all-round contributions. From RR we have Ben Stokes, arguably the best all-rounder in the world who also opens the innings now.
Our bowling line-up is led by Archer (3.00 to be RR’s top bowler), who is in exceptional form. We also have Rashid Khan and Sandeep Sharma to complete a formidable line-up.
